History- Team BettiMoto and the Early Days (Part 1)

The BettiMoto site has a page talking about their history, here. Unfortunately, the English translation is a little tough to fathom, so I did a few translations and put together my own edited translation here (apologies in advance):

OUR HISTORY

It all started with a passion for motorcycles with internal combustion engines; In October 1998 team President Luciano Betti, having had extensive experience as a race rider and as a manager and mechanic for race teams involved in international championships, learned of the World Championship of Electric Bikes, and built, as a joke in five months, the first bike dubbed “ECO”.

The bike was built entirely by hand with his son Thomas, was made without any experience in the field of electrical races let alone electronics.

The bike was built around the electronics of a race car- five months later the “ECO” was ready, powered by a 120 volt brush motor at 290 kg. The first test did not reach 50 km / h. (31mph) After so much effort the performance was such a disappointment!

The team found the electronic defects that limited the speed. One problem was to find a belt drive strong enough to withstand the power, that would not restrict the efficiency of the drive train. The belt drive, which allowed minor efficiency loss but was not reliable, was replaced with chain drive, so the bike was up to 130 km / h (80.77mph) with great acceleration.

After the first few races in which he suffered from some reliability problems, Luciano Betti managed to win all remaining races, including the decisive final race of the season (CUP-EVN), running in Vienna, Austria where Betti, riding the “ECO”, managed to beat his host Czernoch Rudolf, who had already won the championship four times in a row, giving the Betti team’s first World Championship title of Electric Motorcycles.

In 2000, with the experience of a year of competition the team made a second effort, entrusted to Luciano’s son Thomas Betti. Thomas managed to win many victories in his debut, but the title was won by Betty Luciano. The 2000 season, bringing its second world title and winning the Italian for top category, and the Italian title of the first electric scooter driven by Stephen Slaps, not a great driver, but responsible for the electronics of the Betti team.

In 2002 the team of Luciano Betti, Betty Thomas, Matthew Cesarini, riding the new torpedo in the class, and three bikes in the class minor, always Thomas Betti, Betti Luciano and Matthew Cesarini, is repeated in the 2002 championship. The team had gave great satisfaction with their performance in their class with Thomas Betti earning World Champion and Champion and taking home two titles at once. Betti won nine of the ten races. Among other things, the race was not won by was won by Thomas Luciano, demonstraing the great superiority of the Betti team.

In 2003 part of the team with 5 riders, Thomas Betti, Betti Luciano, Matthew Cesarini, Simone Baldini Angel Andreani and all have participated in the two categories of 150 and 300kg for a total of ten bikes.

2003 was the year of the return of Luciano Betti who regained the World Title and Top Electric Motorcycle category for electric vehicles.

In 2004 Luciano Betti won his fourth title ever aboard the updated “torpedo”. Betti won the fourth title in the FIA ​​roster and the sixth for the team.

The 2005 and 2006 years carry the title for the third and fourth titles for Betti Thomas and the seventh and eighth titles for the team.

During eight years of competition the BettiMoto Racing Team has won seven FIA titles in their classes.

The result of this success can be attributed to the passion, the real driving force that has allowed Team Betti to continue despite the difficulties, and make a difference, at a time when the competitive spirit of electric motorcycles was not taken into account.

In 2010 Betti Moto Racing Team will participate in the championships reserved for electric motorcycles following the TTXGP 2009, which was a huge success, as a result of our extensive experience we are sure to be among the leaders of this new adventure.